New Tropos Insight 2.0 With CMDP Gives Service Providers Vital Business Analytics on Metro Wi-Fi Networks.

Critical Information From the Network Edge Regarding Mobile Internet Usage Patterns Help Operators Monitor Service Levels and Maximize Revenue and Profit

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Tropos([R]) Networks, the market leader for metro-scale wireless mesh network systems, today announced Tropos Insight 2.0, adding sophisticated new business analytics to their advanced MetroMesh analysis and optimization system. Tropos Insight 2.0 features essential new business analytics enabling operators to more effectively manage their networks, ensure a great user experience, deliver the applications that users want and enable new revenue streams. With Tropos Insight 2.0, providers of citywide wireless service and municipalities with larger advanced networks have, for the first time, vital business statistics collected at the very edge of the mesh network, such as location, usage patterns and trends, capacity and performance, subscriber activity and client devices, service levels, and geography. The business analytics used by Tropos Insight 2.0 are derived from statistics gathered from each router in the citywide mesh. Uniquely, the collected data is pre-processed on each mesh router using Tropos' patented Correlated Mesh Data Protocol (CMDP[TM]), ensuring minimal airtime usage during transfer over the network.

Supports Metro Wi-Fi Business Models

The ability to mine the network and usage data at the network edge is particularly significant because of the different business models and applications being applied to metro wireless networks worldwide, be they ad- or content-sponsored, subscriber sponsored, private or multi-use services.

"With Tropos Insight 2.0, operators of these networks now have the important business analytics, network history and trend information from the network edge that allows them to plan, support and market their Wi-Fi services to meet their business objectives no matter what business model they are using," said Ron Sege, president and CEO of Tropos Networks. "Using Tropos Insight 2.0, we have discovered that the typical 10 to 15 square mile MetroMesh network supports 1,550 users each day and 2,640 unique users each week, using 50 - 150 unique device types per day. In aggregate, these users download 100GB of information per day, the equivalent of 1 million web pages or 25,000 mp3 files. Importantly, we are able to gather and transmit this business information using a very small amount of airtime because of our Correlated Mesh Data Protocol."

For example, with subscriber paid networks, operators can get a snapshot of usage relative to capacity, uptake and revenue trends. If the uptake is weaker in a particular area and everything is operating properly, operators can determine whether or not they need to focus their marketing dollars on that area or decide where they could or should introduce new services such as voice.

Because Tropos Insight 2.0 provides granular information about usage, times and location, advertisers can also determine the potential eyeballs on their ads at any given moment.

Municipalities can also better gauge the satisfaction of field workers by making sure they have enough capacity to map to their usage patterns and at peak times when applications such as automatic meter reading or telemetry are in use.

New Business Analytic Reports from the Patented CMDP Data Mining and Processing

Tropos Insight 2.0 extends network optimization capabilities with new expert-level business analytic reports providing a new class of business and information management capabilities. The new business reports provide executives with both macro level visibility and granular detail on key performance indicators from the very edge of the network, such as network usage by clients, client link quality, network capacity and reliability, subscriber activity, service levels and the level of user experience.

The business analytics are derived from network performance statistics gathered and pre-processed by the mesh routers using Tropos' patented Correlated Mesh Data Protocol. CMDP efficiently collects, mines and processes large amounts of network and subscriber data from the very edge of the network. CMPD enables a highly-integrated and fully distributed data mining and processing system in which MetroMesh routers and Tropos Insight servers work in concert to provide unique and detailed system-level visibility with minimum impact to available network capacity and airtime. Wireless mesh network management requires such a correlated system perspective because these networks are highly dynamic and interdependent. This highly integrated system offers a level of network visibility that is unmatched in the industry.

Price and Availability

Tropos Insight 2.0, part of the family of MetroMesh analysis and control tools that also includes Tropos Control and Tropos Drive, will begin shipping in March. Customers with valid Tropos support subscriptions can obtain updated software for their existing Tropos Insight at no additional cost.

About Tropos Networks, Inc.

Tropos[R] Networks is the market leader in delivering metro-scale Wi-Fi mesh network systems. Our systems have been selected to unwire more major league cities than all competitors combined and are installed in 30 countries. The patented Tropos MetroMesh[TM] architecture delivers the ultimate scalability, high capacity at low cost and great user experience demanded by carriers, municipalities and network users. Our unique expertise includes high-performance mesh software development, mesh RF engineering, metro-scale network planning, deployment and optimization, and navigating the municipal approval process. Tropos Networks is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, please visit www.tropos.com, call 408-331-6800 or write to [e-mail].

Tropos and PWRP are registered trademarks of Tropos Networks, Inc. Tropos Networks, MetroMesh, AMCE, TMCX, SABRE, CMDP and Metro-Scale Mesh Networking Defined are trademarks of Tropos Networks, Inc. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holder(s).